Breathe
By Sofía Pérez Gasque
When I was little, I used to hear about my dad's brother in a distant way, with a mixture of pride and pain. As I grew up, my family began to talk more about him. It was then that a historian, Adela Cedillo, sought out my father to learn more about "Alfonso".
Who was Alfonso? In my young mind, I couldn't figure it out.
"Alfonso" turned out to be my uncle, Raúl Enrique Pérez Gasque, whom, to honor his memory, my brother was named after him.
"Raúl Pérez Gasque, who has the not at all ostensible title of being the only disappeared Yucatecan of the Mexican dirty war," said Adela Cedillo.
In 1968, my uncle supported the student movement in Mexico City. On his own, he did social work among the indigenous communities near Mérida, where he was nicknamed "El Santito". After the repression of the student movement, he went underground and joined the Mexican Insurgent Army. Later, he participated in the founding of the National Liberation Forces and the Emiliano Zapata Guerrilla Nucleus.
On December 1, 1973, he entered into a revolutionary marriage with Elisa Irina Saenz Garza, known as "Murcia".
He specialized in topography and drew up several plans of the canyons, which fell into the hands of the army at the beginning of Operation Diamante in 1974. He was involved in two confrontations with elements of the 46th and 57th Infantry Battalions. On March 21, 1974, he was detained along with his wife by ejidatarios of Santa Rita, municipality of Ocosingo, Chiapas, who handed them over to the army.
They were transferred by air to Military Camp No. 1 in Mexico City, where they were interrogated and disappeared. The last record we have of them corresponds to April 9, 1974, date on which the Federal Security Directorate elaborated their signalética file.
The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) confirmed his forced disappearance in 2001.
This is the legacy of my uncle Raul, a man whose memory lives on in our family and in the history of our country.
In the context of war, acts of violence and repression are manifested in various forms, among them, the forced disappearance of persons. What is most painful for the families of the disappeared is the uncertainty, the constant doubt as to whether their loved ones are still alive or whether their fate is death. This absence of certainty turns the wait into an endless torment, where the invisible - the uncertain fate of the disappeared - is intertwined with the visible: the scars on the souls of those who wait, the impotence and the deep pain of not being able to close a cycle of life.
Forced disappearance is an act that not only takes a person's physical life, but also robs their family members of peace and hope. While those responsible for these acts remain in the shadows, families continue their battle in the shadows, between waiting and despair, searching for answers, justice and, above all, a place for hope.
In this struggle, the invisible becomes the main enemy, a void that can only be filled with truth and dignity.
The database of the National Search Commission indicates that the missing persons who have not been located as of Monday number 115,584 in Mexico.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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